saivssmeTell them apart

Quick tell: sai is a intj, sme is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sai” is an intj and “sme” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#998
“sai” frequency rank
#40,334
“sme” frequency rank
41332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sai sme
Definition expressão que comunica que se deseja que se afaste, que deixe em paz primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť

Letter map: sai vs sme

Shared letters muted; letters that set sai and sme apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. sai (CVV) and sme (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
sai
3 ch
sme

Role in the sentence - sai and sme

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sai is anintj and smeaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sai is recorded at frequency rank #998, classified as anintj. sme is at rank #40,334, tagged as averb.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 41332, this pair ranks #24,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sai vs sme

Shared letters: s. Private to "sai": ai. Private to "sme": em.

"sai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "sme" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sai" and "sme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sai" is an intj and "sme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sai" or "sme" show up more?
"sai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #998 in our Portuguese list, against #40,334 for "sme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sai" and "sme".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sai" and "sme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #24,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list